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WICHITA FALLS, Texas — An Air Force colonel was sentenced to nine years in prison yesterday and kicked out of the military for assaulting a woman, misusing his government travel card, and other crimes at Sheppard Air Force Base. Colonel Samuel Lofton III faced 140 years in prison after being convicted of 34 counts, including indecent assault, larceny, being absent without leave, and conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman. The 49-year-old former training commander "systematically abused his power, position, and authority to the detriment of the Air Force and to the detriment of those around him," a prosecutor, Captain...

5/2/2008 - SHEPPARD AIR FORCE BASE, Texas -- Sheppard officials have identified the pilots killed when their T-38C Talon crashed during a May 1 training mission. Maj. Brad Funk, 35, a 90th Flying Training Squadron instructor pilot, and 2nd Lt. Alec Littler, 23, a student pilot in the 80th Flying Training Wing's Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training program, died when the aircraft crashed on approach during a training mission at about 7:55 a.m. A board of officers is investigating the accident. More information will be released as it becomes available.

A small plane carrying seven people crashed on Monday in rugged southeastern Kentucky, about 100 miles from Sunday's airliner crash in Lexington, aviation authorities said. It was unclear if there were any survivors from the crash of the twin-engine Cessna 401, which took off from Kickapoo Airport in Wichita Falls, Texas, a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman said. The spokesman did not know the plane's destination because the pilot did not file a flight plan. Witnesses near Jackson, Kentucky, told authorities they had heard a plane and then heard and felt an explosion, said Buddy Rogers of the state emergency management...

The notes taken by a Denver Post reporter while reporting the alleged gang rape of an 18-year-old woman at a U.S. Air Force base in north Texas have been subpoenaed by one of the four men accused of the rape. The Post has refused the request, citing protection under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. A hearing in Texas is scheduled tentatively for later this week. Reporter Miles Moffeit wrote in March that Leah Kaelin said she was gang-raped in June 2003 by four fellow airmen stationed at Sheppard Air Force Base. The story focused on the alleged rape,...